Conveying separate storage units into and from an area



Feb. 9,- 1960 J, o, lsvEN 2,924,343

CONVEYING SEPARATE STORAGE UNITS AINTO AND FROM AN AREA Feb. 9, J. O. ISVN CONVEYING SEPARATE STORAGE UNITS INTO AND FROM AN AREA Filed Sept. '23, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 2? l p :l :l I. if' E11-ff@ l Il a: I :l l :l l wr i s 2b L ra l l". l .L/ 1 I, f s /5 /8 nited States Patent EO CONVEYING SEPARATE STORAGE UNITS INTO AND FROM AN AREA John Olof Isvn, Danderyd, Sweden Application September 23, 1957, Serial No. 685,534 Claims priority, application Sweden October 5,1956

2 Claims. (Cl. 214-16) The present invention refers to an arrangement for conveying separate storage units into and from an area and intended for the keeping of objects of varying kinds such as motorcars.

The invention has for its purpose to provide storing facilities of varying kinds in a number of separate units within a certain limited area, in a manner such that said area will be utilized in the best possible manner without at the same time impairing the accessibility of the objects.

The invention is particularly suitable for the storing of goods and the like in storage localities or for the garaging of motor cars that are kept on platforms or in boxes, the oor surface of which is then utilized to the greatest possible extent.

The invention is principally distinguished by the feature that the storage units are arranged in rows crossing one another at right angles and displaceable in the direction of the rows on runways extending substantially at the same level, said storage units being provided on the lower side thereof with carrying planes, wheels or rollers arranged in a crosswise fashion over the direction of the rows, which runways are constituted in the one direction of rows .by longitudinally extending rails, in which the storage units may slide or roll, and which runways are constituted by stationary rollers in the other direction transverse to the rails, which is used for the conveyance of the storage unitsonto and from the area in consideration.

A suitable form of embodiment 'will be described herenbelow as an exemplifying' construction of the invention in connection with the annexed drawings, which in Fig. 1 diagrammatically illustrates van installation for eighteen storage units arranged in three parallel spaced rows and with three parallel spaced entering runways constituted by tracks as shown in Fig. 2 and three parallel spaced outgoing runways constituted by parallel spaced rows of stationary rollers arranged transversely to the tracks. Fig. 2 shows a construction of the mutually perpendicular rows of rollers and tracks viewed from above, Fig. 3 shows the same arrangement as that of Fig. 2, viewed from the side, and Fig. 4 shows diagrammatically, viewed from above, an embodiment of a coupling and displacing contrivance.

ln the installation shown schematically in Fig. 1, the storage units are shown in the form of equally dimensioned square platforms lez-1f, 2x1-2f and 3cr-3f, as illustrated within a restricted area, the platforms la-lf being arranged in a row behind one another, while the platforms 3a-3f are arranged in a third row beside the second row. The platforms are arranged displaceable in two directions at right angles to each other,.namely, in the respective directions of rows on three parallel spaced runways denoted by 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and on three other parallel spaced runways 4, 5 and 6 at right angles to the runways 1-3, which are arranged at mutual spaces equalling substantially the dimension in the direction of rows of one platform. The platforms are provided with cut-off coupling members 7, shown in the figures in the form of hooks, by means of which the platforms in each The connecting members 7 may also, according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 be arranged in one or more rods 16 and 17 extending underneath the platforms along each row. Here, platforms are coupled together in a row by the same being coupled in desired numbers to the rod extending underneath the platforms. The coupling members may be manually operable or be caused by means of remotely controlled means to be brought into or out of engagement with the desired number of platforms. Here, the connection of the platforms in a row is -independent of whether any of the platforms are occasionally removed. The coupling members 7 may be of any suitable construction; for example, the coupling members may be constituted by mechanical, pneumatic, hydraulic or electric means or by automatically operable couplings. The displacement of the platforms on the various runways 1, 2 and 3 may preferably be performed by means of a servomotor 8, 9 and 10, respectively, arranged in the end of each row of platforms, said servomotor being adapted to displace the platforms in the row back and forth for a distance somewhat longer than the dimension of the platform in the direction of rows. By disconnecting the coupling members 7 on both sides of a platform, the latter may be released, and if locatedin the rst row, i.e. runway 1 in a position in front of one of the runways 4, 5 or 6 at right angles to the direction of rows, it may be moved out on any one of these runways. If it is desired to move out a platform in the rst row, i.e. at runway 1, which is not in front of an outgoing runway, the platform will have to be moved to such a location by displacing the whole row by means of the appurtenant servomotor, whereupon the coupling members will have to be released for the platform in consideration to be moved out. If a platform in any row is required to be moved past i.e. cross another row in order to be moved out along the runways 4, 5 or 6, it is, of course, necessary to provide sucient space at the cross points. This can be done by opening the rows to be crossed so as to establish the necessary pass-through gap. In Fig. l, platform 3b is to be moved to the left and discharged along the runway 4. Consequently, the entire rows of p-latforms la-lj' and 2a-2f are first displaced by their respective servo motors 89Yto'the positions shown in Fig. 1, then platforms 1a and 2a are uncoupled from platforms 1b and 2b, and the former are then displaced in the opposite direction so as to establish the gaps necessary for passage of platform 3b to reach runway 4. The removal of platform 3b and any'others through runways 4, 5 or 6 may be effected by suitable pulling or pushing members or by other means or by the fact that the transverse runways 4, 5 and 6 have such an inclination that the platform is ycaused to slide along the runway by its own weight. Friction reducing and controlling means may be arranged here to facilitate the transport, as will appear from Figs. 2 and 3.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the platforms are equipped with rollers 18 on the lower side thereof, such rollers extending transversely of and running with their ends on the sets of tracks 13 which constitute respectively the runways 1, Z and 3. The transversely extending outgoing runways are constituted by rows of rollers 19, which are devoid of flanges and are located, all of them, with their upper tangential plane in the same plane as the upper sides of the sets of tracks 13. The rollers 19 are connected in pairs by transversely extending shafts 22 having smaller diameter than that of the rollers 19. A platform may thus be rolled ahead, so that the rollers 18 thereof are caused to roll right over the corresponding rollers 19 and are rolled away,` on the latter on an outgoing runway. For the guidance of the platforms in a lateral direction, circularly shaped hour-glass-like recessed guide rollers 20 may be made use of outside the tracks 13 in correspondence to the rollerslS, or, rollers may b eprovided which in a lateral direction bear on the side edges of the platforms. In the crossings between the tracks, the sets of tracks-13 are provided with recesses or depressions 21, in which the rollers 18 may pass without touching the sets of tracks 13. In order to displace the platforms bymotor-power on the transverse runways for the conveyance of there storage units onto and from the area in consideration, the rollers 19 are driven by a wire-rope 23 from a motor 24. A few turns ofthe` wire-rope 23 are wound upon each shaft 22 and the ends of the rope are secured to a drum 2S driven by the motor 24, at i 'rangedA lon the actual objects, if

`this purpose.

forms may preferably also be operated by` meansof remotely controlled servomotors in the tracks underneath the platforms.

When a platform has been moved out of the area and the object has been removed from the platform, the latter is preferably brought immediately back to the area to be introduced into its place, whereupon.` all intervals are closed and all coupling members 7 between the platforms are coupled together,` so that the whole platform system is in readiness for the removal of any platform. If the arrangement according tothe invention is used for instance for garaging of motorcar's,

it will be` found suitable to build the garage in a plurality of planes with lifts or elevators running up and down along the various planes. It may then be suitable to move out the platforms at one side of the installation and to move them in on the opposite side. It is then possible by` means of a central operating system7 for instancewith push buttons for every platform, auto-` protect the objects kept therein from unauthorized persons and from dirtying as well as from atmospheric'inuences. It is also conceivable that the coupling members instead of being arranged on the variousI storage units are ar- .apague Y I f they are suitable for In place `of rotating rollers, which are stationarily arranged in the runways, friction reducing means may also be provided in the storage units, for instance in the form of balls or rollers swingable about an axisrperpendicular to the direction of movement, such rollers being adapted to roll on a plane substructure. In

this case, only guidance in a lateral direction is required for the storage units; z

What I claim is: i l 1- Improvement .fsf ssavsyins separate storage units 'intoY and out of an area and intended for the keeping of variousobjects, said storage unitsbeing arranged in parallsl `rows and. disrlsssbls i9. lsngitsdinal and transverse directions on intersectingrunways, the number of runways for moving thestorage unitsinto and out of the` area being constituted by `a runway for each second row at the most, said runways being substantially located onthe same level, s aid storage units being provided within-coupling meansand `being further provided' onithelwer side with rollers arranged transversely to the direction of said rows, said runwaysin the longitudinal direction `being constituted by longitudinal extending rails i on which said rollers roll, said runways in the transverse c lirectioriO being constituted, by rotatable rollers withstafisnary sais .0f stative said rsllfsrs sf sash transverse runway for movingthe `storageunits into and out of .tbs aries. brins ssnnssfisd is spass@ P'airs by transversely` extendingV elongated shafts havingsmaller diameter than i thathdf the rollers, a common wire ropebeing wound at least `oneituriiiorllto said shafts, thee'nds of the uwire rope beingsfecured to a motor driven drum, onto which is wound at least such a length of the wire rope as corresponds@ ,sbssxtsnsisn Qffths www 2L An arrangement accordingto claim 1, wherein the wire ropei is wound from one Vend of the transverse runway from shaft to shaft'to the otherend` of the transverse'r'unway and from this end` from shaft to `shaft i References Cited in the le of patent` n UNITED STATES "PATENTS 

